lurk

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So I guess this is a good time to de-lurk, then!

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Definitions (13)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (4)

  1. intransitive verb To lie in wait, as in ambush.
  2. intransitive verb To move furtively; sneak.
  3. intransitive verb To exist unobserved or unsuspected: danger lurking around every bend.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (5)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

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Examples (50)

  • Forests were dangerous areas—lots of handy places for predators to lurk, and you could be attacked from any direction. —  Cascade Point
  • Who knows what revelations lurk -- oops, one arrived as I am writing ... —  Latest Articles
  • Please consider this to be an invitation to all the geezers reading to de-lurk and say —  Firedoglake
  • Please consider this to be an invitation to all the geezers to de-lurk and say "hi". —  The Hollywood Liberal
  • Sure, marketing motives lurk: And1 will sell the shoe for $129.99, starting Monday. —  Top Stories - Google News
 

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This word has been looked up 173 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same contextWord Family

lurk:   lurked ·  lurking ·  lurks
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English lurken, possibly of Scandinavian origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from Middle English lurken, lorken, prob. from Swedish lurka, lirka (= Danish lirke), lurk, from lura = Danish lure, lurk, = Icelandic lūra, slumber, = Middle High German lūren, German lauern = Middle Low German luren = Dutch loeren, listen, lurk. In this view lurk has a formative -k, as in hark, talk, smirk, as related to hear, tale, smile, etc., and is not, as some suppose, an altered form, with change of s to r, of Swedish dial, luska = Danish luske, lurk, sneak, = Middle Dutch luschen, luysschen, lurk, = Middle Low German lūschen = Old High German loskēn, Middle High German loschen, German lauschen, listen, akin to English list, listen: see list . But the Swedish lura, Danish lure, lurk, if connected with Icelandic hlöra, listen, are from the same root, which appears also in loud, q. v. Hence by assibilation lurch , q. v.
  2. from lurk. v.
 

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/lərk/
by American Heritage

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